No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
by Genevieve Kelly
Summary: When their good friend, Trent Malloy, is attacked by unknown assailants and left for dead, rangers Walker, Trivette, Gage, and Sydney work together with Trent's partner, Carlos Sandoval, to find the men that hurt him. Countless leads turn into nothing, leaving them without answers and the longer time passes without justice being served, Carlos becomes hopeless and even more angry.
1. Chapter 1

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Chapter One

Thanks to a tip called in on the anonymous tip line, two of the state's finest Texas rangers ran out of the rangers' headquarters in order to apprehend three dangerous criminals, whom they had been hunting since the men and woman had viciously killed three bystanders during a bank heist that had gone terribly wrong. That had been over two weeks ago and finally the rangers' pleas for any information had paid off.

Once they had arrived at the local bar where the tip had led them, Walker and Trivette cautiously walked inside, ready for a fight they knew would be inevitable, but as they did so, the rangers found a number of men groaning on the ground in pain, all looking like they had just been in a fight and lost.

Trivette was the first to speak up as he quizzically looked at his partner, then over at the bartender as he asked, "What on earth happened here? Who did this?"

Before the man behind the bar could answer, a familiar voice sounded from across the room saying, "We did and let me tell you, these guys did not go down easy."

"Carlos, we should have known," Walker responded with a smile as Carols Sandoval, the former detective, now turned private investigator, and his partner, Trent Malloy walked forward and shook Walker's and Trivette's hands in a friendly greeting.

"This certainly looks like your handiwork," Trivette replied sarcastically.

Carlos stared at his friend and asked, "Exactly what are you implying?"

Trivette answered, "Nothing. It's just that usually when we get into a fight, our guys go down and remain unconscious. You two tend to leave them to groan and wallow in their pain."

"Sorry to get in the middle of your take down, Walker, but these men and the woman riding with them were about to leave and there was nothing we could do, but fight them," Trent said before Carlos could retort to Trivette's jibes. "We heard about them from the news and your inquiries for information, so when we happened to see them walk into this place on our way to visit with a client, we knew we needed to do something to help you. We didn't plan to fight them, but when we tried to stall them, they figured we were cops and so they started it."

"How did you know to come here by the way?" Carols asked. "We didn't get the chance to call you guys before they attacked us."

Walker responded, "An anonymous call. Someone else recognized our suspects too. Thanks for the help. These men and woman are wanted for the deaths of three people and the robberies of at least four different banks and jewelry shops throughout this city alone."

Trivette nodded and then added, "There are most likely more criminal acts that we'll discover they've committed later on."

"Let us know if there' anything more we can do to help," Trent replied as he turned to look at his partner and best friend since they were kids. "We should get going. I told Nikki we'd be there over a half hour ago and by now she's probably cursing us for convincing her to help us out."

"Who's Nikki?" Trivette asked curiously. "Is she another one of your soon to be failed pursuits, Carlos?"

Carlos scoffed as he answered, "Hardly. No, she's this unbelievably spoiled rich girl, whose father hired us to protect from a stalker until the man's put in prison for the rest of his life. It took a lot for us to convince her to testify against him. I wouldn't date this girl even if I was paid a million bucks."

Trent laughed and retorted, "Yes you would. When it comes to money and a pretty woman, you'd do just about anything."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Carlos said. "Besides, she really is hot, but that doesn't change how I feel about her. I still hate her."

"Let's go," Trent spoke as the two investigators walked out, leaving Walker and Trivette behind to finish dealing with the men on the ground.

Trivette began to finish cuffing those whom Trent and Carlos hadn't after their fight, as he spoke up saying, "We should have sent Sydney and Gage here instead."

Walker smiled as he asked, "Are you feeling cheated because Carlos and Trent got here first and took these guys down for us? I thought that just the other day you were complaining that you were getting tired of going home at night with a sore hand or a headache due to all the fighting we do?"

"I take it back," the younger ranger responded. "What can I say, if it wasn't for all of our fights we get into day after day, our jobs would be boring."

"I think you're right," Walker replied. "Let's get them back to the station. The sooner we finish with them, the sooner we can get our paperwork done and then we can get home to the women in our lives."

Later, in the middle of the night…

Trent finally pulled into the parking area outside the Thunder Karate dojo where he taught karate and self defense classes, which was also where he lived, in a small apartment just above the dojo. He and Carlos had finished checking in with Nikki, then just as they were leaving, they were forced into another brawl, as Nikki's stalker had hired a group of thugs to attack them and kidnap her. The men were easily taken down, but it took several hours for the two private investigators to calm the woman and her father, who was angry that Trent and Carlos had allowed the criminals to get so close.

When they finally finished, Trent tried to invite Carlos over for another lesson, as Trent was working to teach his friend the martial arts after having been targeted by a psychopath and nearly killed. The experience was enough to get Carlos to want to learn how to better defend himself without always the use of his gun. However, Carlos declined Trent's offer that night as he told Trent that he had a date lined up, despite the lateness of the hour.

Later, when he walked inside alone, Trent caught the overwhelming smell of gasoline from within the building and it wasn't long before flames suddenly erupted within the main room where he taught his classes. Trent ran deeper inside and saw shadows of the men he knew had started this, but began to attempt to snuff out the fire, as the flames weren't yet too large, rather than go after them. However, as he was concentrating on doing so, a shot suddenly sounded and a deep pain welled up within him, causing him to collapse hard to the ground, blood beginning to pool out between his fingers from a wound in his chest. Trent tried to get a look at the person who had shot him, but could only make out a shadow, just as he had seen of the others.

The shooter didn't stick around to watch his victim suffer, as he ran past the younger man before he too would be trapped inside with the flames growing larger and larger. Trent could barely move as the pain was near unbearable and the smoke had begun to overwhelm his senses, but knew that if he didn't fight through it, he was going to die and so he mustered up what little strength he had left, struggled to pull himself out until he was far enough away from his dojo, then collapsed down again onto the pavement. As his consciousness slowly slipped away, Trent watched helplessly as the dojo his father had built and left to him burned. Unconsciousness claimed him before help finally arrived.


	2. Chapter 2

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Chapter Two

Carlos was lying in bed with a beautiful young red head in his arms, whom he had met just a day ago while standing in line at a coffee shop. He had become smitten immediately, mostly because of her freckles, a trait that he rarely saw on women, at least not on the ones that he was usually attracted to. She was attracted to him too, making saying yes to him easy for her to do.

After they shared a bottle of wine, they went to his bedroom and made love, then drifted off to sleep. However, they were both awakened a short time later by the ringing of his phone. Carlos expected it to be Trent calling, but instead was surprised to find that it was Butch, who had a sense of urgency in his voice as he swiftly spoke up before Carlos could even say hello.

"Butch, what's going on?" Carlos asked groggily. "Don't you realize it's the middle of the night?"

"You need to get down to Trent's right away, kid," Butch replied fearfully. "It's not good."

Carlos sat up quickly, ignoring the woman's pleas for him to lie back down, and asked, "What happened? Is Trent all right?"

Butch only answered brusquely, "Just get over here; now!"

Carlos made it to Thunder Karate in record time, after he had left whom he suspected would be just another one night stand in his bed without saying a word, and when he arrived, he was shocked to find the building where his best friend lived and worked was on fire, firemen fighting to put out the flames that engulfed it, then noticed the police cars, and finally, an ambulance parked nearby. As soon as he got out of his car, Carlos ran toward the rescue vehicle as fast as he could, only to be stopped by two police officers just before he could reach whom he now saw was his partner lying unconscious on the ground, surrounded by a number of paramedics working to save his life.

"How is he?" Carlos shouted out at them. "Is he going to be okay? What the hell happened? Somebody, please tell me!"

"Take it easy, Carlos," Butch responded quietly as the older man suddenly wrapped his arms around the former detective in order to keep him from pushing his way through. "Let them work on him."

Carlos glared at their older friend and mentor, then stared back down at Trent as he watched the men and women begin to resuscitate him, Trent's heart having stopped merely seconds before. The paramedics beat up and down on his chest while using a respirator to breathe for him, then finally stopped what they were doing when his heart began to beat again, though with much more difficulty. Carlos couldn't do anything more, but just stand there in silence, dumbfounded by the scene before him.

Butch then spoke up again saying, "I came here to speak with Trent about a potential client. I knew he'd be awake. I saw the flames from down the street, then ran over here, and found Trent lying unconscious on the ground, with a bullet hole in his chest. He's lost a lot of blood. It's amazing that he's even still alive. With a wound like that…"

Carlos finally turned to look at him again as he asked softly, "Who did this? Why… why would anyone do this?"

"You and Trent have made a huge number of enemies, Carlos," Butch replied. "Any number of them could have done this. You know that. Now it's up to us to find the sons of bitches and make them pay. Once we can do that, we'll worry about putting this dojo back together. I know how much this place means to him."

"We're going to need help," Carlos answered after nodding in agreement. "I'm going to call Walker. He and the others will want in on this and we certainly can't do it alone."

The bar owner quickly added, "You'd better call Kim too. She'll want to be there for Trent too and you know how she gets when you two don't include her in the real important matters."

Carlos responded, "Don't I know it."

Almost an hour later, Walker and his wife, Alex, Trivette, C.D., Gage, and Sydney, all arrived at the hospital after receiving word that their friend had been attacked and left for dead. After walking inside, they came into the waiting room where Carlos, Butch, and Kim, the two investigators' secretary and friend, were all waiting for news on Trent's condition. Kim sat beside Butch as she silently wept in his arms, her fear for Trent being more evident than the others, while Butch comforted her and Carlos paced back and forth, seething in anger.

"Carlos, do you have any idea what happened?" Walker asked quietly as he and the other rangers walked over to him, while Alex moved over to sit with Kim and Butch.

"Only that someone broke into the dojo and set it on fire, then shot Trent," the former detective replied. "We won't know anymore until we begin investigating."

Trivette spoke up asking, "The question is, did Trent's attackers shoot him because he walked in on them as they started the fire and tried to stop them, or did they target Trent specifically, then set the fire in hope of covering up their tracks?"

Gage continued, "That's not the only question we need to answer."

"No, it isn't, but for now we need to be patient while we wait for the doctors to come out with news on how he's doing, and pray that Trent's strong enough to survive this attack," Walker answered calmly.

"None of this should have happened," Carlos said sadly as he slowly turned away and continued to pace. "I should have been there with him when he got home. Trent invited me over for another lesson tonight and I turned him down, all because of a woman. What kind of friend does that?"

Sydney responded, "Everyone. Everyone does that at some point or another. You couldn't have known this was going to happen."

C.D. continued, "Besides, if you did go there with him, then it's possible that you would have been shot or killed too."

"Maybe, but at least I could have tried to help him, been there to save him sooner," Carlos replied. "I could have helped him stop them."

"Or not," Trivette retorted. "We'll never know. This isn't your fault, man; only the fault of the monsters that did this."

C.D. continued, "You're darn right. Can I go get any of you something to eat or drink? I have a feeling it's going to be a long wait."

Butch looked down at Kim, who nodded softly, then looked over at Carlos as he answered, "We'll take a couple of waters, C.D. I'd prefer it be something a little stronger, but water sounds good too."

"Nothing for me, thanks," Carlos responded in frustration. "I'm just going to go get some air for a few minutes. It's getting a little too stuffy in here. I'll be back soon."

"He's taking this pretty hard," Gage said after Carlos walked out.

Walker nodded and replied, "That's because he and Trent have been friends since they were kids."

C.D. added, "The two of them are like brothers, just as Cordell and Jimmy are."

"We need to find the men that did this," Alex spoke quietly. "If Trent dies, then we'll probably lose Carlos too."

"I know," Walker answered. "Believe me, we'll find them."


	3. Chapter 3

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Chapter Three

It took several hours for the doctor to finally come out into the waiting room to talk with Trent's family, his mom and brother having arrived shortly after the others had, and friends about his condition. As expected, the news wasn't good and once again Trent was at death's door, life support being all that was keeping him alive for the time being.

The bullet had pierced him just an inch to the left of his heart. The doctors and nurses were impressed to say the least that Trent had managed to remain conscious after being shot and strong enough to be able to pull himself out of the fire earlier. Not only was the damage severe, but his loss of blood was substantial. As for the fire damage, Trent had third degree burns on his hands and arms, unknown to anyone at the time that this was due to his efforts in trying to put out the flames before being shot, and second degree burns on his back, caused as he struggled to make his way out of the burning building. He had also inhaled a large amount of smoke into his lungs, which alone worried the medical staff.

After listening to the frightening news, it was another hour before Trent's mother and his brother, Cathy and Tommy, were finally permitted to visit him inside the ICU. Though the doctors tried to insist that only family was permitted to do so, Cathy insisted that Carlos, Walker, and the others be allowed in too, as they were as close to family as they came. No one spoke for what felt like forever until Cathy finally broke the silence.

"I don't care what you have to do," she said fearfully to Carlos, who looked just as distraught as she and Tommy did, while gently caressing his cheek. "Find the monsters that did this to my son. I know you will, but…"

"I promise you, we'll get them and make them pay for this, Cathy," Walker answered when all Carlos could do was look into her eyes, then continued to stare down at his closest friend and brother. "We should go, but we'll be in touch soon."

As Walker and the others began to leave the room, Carlos finally snapped out of his trance and said sadly, "I'm so sorry, Cathy, Tommy. If only I…"

Trent's mother shook her head as she interrupted, "None of this is your fault, Carlos. I know that look, as I've seen it many times on both you and on my son. I don't care about what you think you could have done or should have done differently tonight. Trent has fought this long and if I know him at all, then I know he will continue to fight. I just need you to focus on catching the men responsible for this."

"You have my word," Carlos responded and then looked down again at his friend lying so still underneath the ventilator and the multiple tubes and needles sticking out from his arms then looked over at Tommy. "You hang in there too, kiddo."

"I will," Trent's little brother replied quietly as Cathy kissed Carlos on his cheek before he finally turned and left the room.

After leaving the hospital, Alex went back home, as did C.D., Kim, and Butch, while Carlos followed Walker, Trivette, Gage, and Sydney back to the Texas rangers' headquarters in order to begin what they knew would be a long search for answers. Each of them were exhausted from the long night in the hospital, but none of them cared right then as they worried more about their friend.

Trivette was the first to speak up once they made it back there as he said, "We need to try to figure out who might have been bold enough to burn down such a beloved structure in the community. First, we might want to work under the assumption that Thunder Karate was the target and not Trent, as usually when a person is targeted, the bad guys tend to go after the person directly."

Walker thought for a moment and then answered, "Unless our bad guys knew how much that place means to Trent and wanted to make him suffer first. Burning down his dojo and home is a good way to do that."

"Do you know of anyone who might have a grudge against Trent, Carlos?" Gage asked. "I mean, someone more than just any of the men and women you and he have brought down since you began your careers as private investigators?"

"It's just as you said," Carlos responded. "He and I have brought most of our criminals down together, so if someone has a grudge against him, they'll have one against me too and I'm not the one who's been targeted."

Sydney replied, "At least not yet you haven't. Hopefully, it'll stay that way."

Carlos shook his head as he spoke again saying, "No, this is a specific attack meant solely for Trent. My gut's telling me that our suspects are after him personally and want him to suffer first before they kill him."

"Carlos is right," Walker answered in agreement. "Which means that his life is still in danger and so are Cathy's and Tommy's."

"I'll call in a security detail to head over to the hospital to protect them," Sydney said as she picked up the phone to speak with whoever was in charge of making that all happen.

"So, we're working under the assumption that Trent is the target then," Trivette responded. "The question still remains the same; who would want him dead so badly to go through all this and how did our guys know that Trent would be home right then?"

Carlos answered in frustration, "They must have had somebody watching him. And when they saw him arrive at the dojo, made a call to whoever was inside the building, all set to start the fire once he walked in. Trent wouldn't have run in if it was already on fire, unless of course he suspected someone was inside."

Gage continued as he responded, "That makes sense. Trent might have seen whoever did this and may have fought them before getting shot by whoever pulled the trigger. Either that, or he may have tried to put out the fire before it got too hot and was stopped."

"Is there anyone who recently may have threatened Trent, Carlos?" Walker asked.

"Only the guy we're trying to take down in our current stalker case, but like I said before, Trent and I both are working this case and he and his men have cursed us both," Carlos replied. "But, I guess it won't hurt for us to go and have a chat with him."

Walker nodded and answered, "Trivette and I will go with you. Gage and Sydney, I want you two to go down to the dojo and see what you can learn from the crime scene. Maybe we'll get some answers there."

Sydney and Gage both grabbed their coats as she responded, "You've got it, boss."

"So, who exactly is our first suspect, Carlos?" Trivette asked as they left the office.

"His name is Milo Thatcher and he's nothing more than a street thug, with a lot of thugs for friends," Carlos replied as he walked out as well, followed by the lead rangers. "Trent have I have been trying to find evidence of him stalking our client's daughter and of his involvement in a number of attacks against her, but so far we've found nothing. We've caught a few of the thugs that attacked her, but so far we have nothing to actually tie them to Milo and none of them will turn on him. With no proof…"

Trivette finished as they made their way to their cars, "There's no conviction. Didn't you guys say that your client's daughter was freaking out about something last night and wanted you to come over?"

Carlos shook his head as he answered, "Yeah, Nikki was just wanting to us to come over so that she could try to convince us to leave her be, as she's not thrilled about our protection, but as we were leaving, another group of thugs tried to kidnap her. Trent and I stopped them. Nikki's still not too happy with us being involved in her protection detail, but her father is still insisting, even though he chewed us out royally for us allowing Milo's men to get so close. Needless to say, this case has been stressful. We'll need to speak with Nikki and her father, then to Detective Ryan as well. I'm going to have to turn the case over to the police. They're all going to have a fit."

"You're probably right," Walker responded. "Let's start with Milo. I'd like to get to know this guy."

"Trust me, you'll change your mind when you do," Carlos replied sarcastically.


	4. Chapter 4

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Chapter Four

Two thugs guarding the outside of the apartment complex where Milo Thatcher lived walked forward and blocked the rangers' and Carlos' way when they pulled up and attempted to enter the building, then Carlos stepped behind his friends as he spoke up saying, "I wouldn't do anything stupid, boys. You really don't want to mess with my friends here."

One of them scoffed as they reached down, touching the handles of their guns, then said, "We don't care who your friends are, Sandoval. You won't be bothering our boss today."

"Actually, we will," Walker responded as he and Trivette suddenly threw punches at the men standing in their way of the building's entrance and then successfully knocked them out. "He tried to warn you."

"Why'd you step back and leave them to us?" Trivette asked as he turned around to look at Carlos while the three of them walked inside and climbed the stairs up toward Thatcher's apartment.  
Carlos smiled as he answered, "I knew you could handle them. If I recall, Trent and I handled the guys in the last fight. This was your turn. Besides, it's not like they were that difficult. They went down after two punches and a kick to the stomach."

Trivette shrugged and then replied, "I'll keep in mind that we're starting to keep track of the number of people we take down."

When they reached the top floor and stood outside the right door, Trivette knocked three times before someone finally answered. They walked inside when a voice called out for them to enter, then stopped when they came face to face with Milo, who was currently sitting in a large chair with two women sitting on top of him within his arms.

"Welcome, gentlemen," Milo said smugly without moving. "Carlos, I thought I made myself clear the last time you and your partner came over; you shouldn't make my friends angry. And where exactly is your partner? Did he quit?"

"Like you don't know, you son of a…" Carlos responded angrily until Walker cut him off as he laid a hand gently on his shoulder.

Walker then continued, "We were hoping that you could tell us where you and your men were last night a little over an hour after the men you sent to kidnap Nikki Urban."

Milo didn't even flinch at the accusation, then answered, "I don't know what you're talking about. My men and I were here all night, except for maybe when a couple of them stepped out to order us a pizza from the bistro down the street. If you're here because you think we did something wrong, then you've made a trip out here for nothing."

"Is there anyone who can verify what you're saying is true?" Trivette asked.

"You can talk to any one of our neighbors," one of Milo's friends replied and then chuckled. "They're quite the busybodies. And they don't like us very much."

Trivette responded, "It's easy to see why."

Milo finally lifted the women off of his lap, then stood up as he stared at Carlos curiously, and asked, "Something has happened to Malloy, hasn't it? Otherwise, he'd be here with you instead of these Texas rangers? Is he dead?"

"I think you know the kind of fighter he is," Carlos answered coldly. "He doesn't let scum like you take him down so easily. He'll be back in time to see you pay for all of your crimes, I promise. Oh, and by the way, it looks like you've lost a few more men. You might want to start being a little more cautious before everyone that works for you end up out of commission."

"You won't take us down, Sandoval!" the man shouted angrily, knowing that the former detective was bragging about the number of his men he and Trent had taken out and put in the hospital, last night and in the weeks past, as Carlos, Trivette, and Walker turned and walked out of the apartment. "You can't prove anything!"

Once they were outside again, Trivette looked over at Carlos as he spoke up saying, "That was pretty good back there. He's probably telling us the truth about not putting out the hit on Trent, which we'll find out soon enough, but when this is all over, if you want any help taking him down for the crimes he has committed, let me know."

Carlos nodded as Walker said, "Let's go find out what the neighbors know. Hopefully, Sydney and Gage are having better luck then we are."

Meanwhile…

Gage and Sydney were currently standing within the ashes and remains of what was once Thunder Karate. The fire department had finally been able to put out the fire for good hours ago and now it was nothing more than ruins. The rangers spoke with the fire investigators, who were now there with them, in order to get their interpretation on what had happened, but it was nothing more than they already suspected. It was known that the fire had been set by Trent's attackers. All that they learned from the investigators were the technical details and none of it helped them discover something to help them figure out who.

"There's got to be something here that can help us," Sydney said softly as she stood over the now mostly dried blood pool where Trent had managed to crawl out to. "Something that maybe our suspects dropped when they fled the building before it went up, a foot imprint, anything."

"Whoever did this, they're good," Gage replied. "They know how to cover their tracks. I highly doubt that the guy Walker, Trivette, and Carlos went to see is the guy we're after. I'd be way too easy."

His partner nodded, then slowly began to walk back through what section of the building remained standing, and began to shuffle through some of the ash around her and down at her feet. As she did so, she suddenly bent down and picked up something that was buried beneath the rubble; the casing of the bullet fired into their friend.


	5. Chapter 5

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Chapter Five

A tall, lanky man, wearing glasses and a cheap suit walked swiftly inside an office building and into one of the larger offices with quite the view overlooking the city, without knocking on the door first. As he did so, another man spun around to face him, while remaining in his chair positioned behind his desk.

The man still sitting spoke first as he said calmly, "You seem upset, Charlie."

Charlie scoffed, then replied, "I don't think that upset quite covers what I'm feeling. Why did you do this? What exactly are you paying me for if you don't ever bother to listen to any of my advice?"

"It's like I told you before, it needed to be done," the man responded. "He needs to pay for what he did to me and this was the best way I could think of."

"Yes, but he is friends with four Texas rangers, including Cordell Walker," Charlie answered nervously. "If they figure out we're involved…"

The man still sitting interrupted, "They won't figure it out, even if they find the men I hired to do the job. Any minute now, I should be receiving a message alerting me to the completion of another job and then we'll be in the clear. That includes you, unless of course you start to get nervous. You know what happens when people cross me, especially when they double cross me. You're only my lawyer. You know I can easily find another."

Charlie nodded in silence as his boss received a text message, then spoke up again asking, "Is that the message you were waiting for?"

"It is," he replied coolly. "Go home, Charlie. Your wife will be worrying about you soon and then she'll be calling to nag me about keeping you here after business hours again."

"All right," the tall, lanky man with glasses responded. "Just please, try not to do anything more regarding this manner. You've made him pay, now leave it alone. Good night."

Meanwhile…

Across town inside a parking garage, a meet was set up between a man and a small time gang leader and a few of his cohorts. When everyone arrived, the gang members were feeling confident, if not cocky, as they were about to be paid a substantial amount of money for doing a job for an unknown employer, or so they thought. The man that stood before them as they walked over to him was alone and hardly appeared to be dangerous.

The gang leader spoke up as he asked, "So, did you bring us our money?"

The single man answered gruffly, "You didn't exactly complete the job as you were asked, did you?"

"We did exactly what your friend asked us to do," one of the other gang members retorted. "We were supposed to burn down the dojo and then shoot Malloy if he happened to come home before we finished."

"Yes, but he didn't die," the man replied. "I believe my instructions were for you to kill him. I didn't think I would have to paint the entire picture out for you. Usually, when someone asks you to shoot someone, they mean for you to kill them, not just shoot them. Malloy is still alive!"

The gang leader spoke up coldly as he responded, "I shot him in the chest and he went down hard, while the fire went up around him. I knew that Malloy was tough, but I had no idea he'd be able to pull himself out of there in time. He may not be dead yet, but his condition can't be good. It wouldn't take much for you to finish the job, or if you're too chicken, for us to finish. If we do it, you will just have to pay is more money."

The man only smiled and then answered, "Don't worry about it. If that job needs to be done, then we'll get it done, but your services will no longer be needed."

"Great, so where is our money then?" another gang member asked.

"It's right here," the man replied curtly as he handed over a briefcase to the leader, but as he and the others were looking over the money inside, the man pulled out a gun and swiftly fired upon the gang members, killing each of them without hesitation. "It's nothing personal."

Once he finished, then picked up the case still containing the money, and finally left the garage as he quickly sent a text to his boss, letting him know that his latest task was finished. However, before he left he staged the crime scene and dropped a couple of the larger bills on the ground, making it look to the police as though the gang members had turned on each other over money, the victor having taken off with the rest.


	6. Chapter 6

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Chapter Six

After hours at the rangers' headquarters…

Gage and Sydney walked into the main room after coming from the forensics lab, then Gage spoke up saying, "So we got the results back from the bullet casing Syd found at the dojo, thanks to them rushing the tests for us. There was only one set of finger prints found on it, belonging to…"

Sydney continued, "Belonging to a kid named Kip Jones, the leader of a local gang. We looked him up and there have been a number of complaints from the people living in the area where Kip's gang run around. They're nothing more than the average thugs."

"Carlos, did you and Trent ever run into this Kip Jones, or ever cross him during one of your cases?" Walker asked as he looked over at the former detective while handing him the file on the gang's leader.

"No," he answered after studying the picture for a few moments. "I don't ever remember seeing this guy. I suppose it's possible Trent ran into him before I joined him on the job, but… I'm not really sure. We could have fought him or any of his thugs during any one of our fights, but nothing stands out as to why this guy or his friends would have wanted to try to kill Trent and burn down the dojo."

Trivette replied, "If that's the case, then it's also possible that these guys could have been hired to do someone else's dirty work."

Sydney nodded in agreement and responded, "I'll bet you're right. We need to have a talk with these guys and hope that they're smart enough to tell us the truth. Maybe they'll flip on whoever it is in exchange for doing less time in prison, not that I'm too fond of that part of the job."

"None of us are, but if it leads us to the men responsible for doing this to Trent, then that's what we'll do," Walker said. "Get us the address and let's track them down."

"Already done," Gage answered. "Let's go."

Within a half hour, the rangers and Carlos arrived at the address Gage had found as the gang's main hang out. However, as they arrived they discovered a number of police and rescue vehicles outside of the parking garage nearby the apartment complex. As they walked inside, they found police surrounding a new crime scene.

As he looked down at the bodies of Kip and some of his friends, Trivette was the first to speak up to his teammates saying, "It looks like our theory was right. Whoever hired these guys to kill Trent, didn't want them around after to talk should they be caught. Our only leads just went out the window."

Carlos placed his fingers over the bridge of his nose in frustration, then looked out toward the crowd that had gathered around outside the crime scene perimeters and noticed a couple of people who looked like they were other members of Kip's gang. He motioned to Walker and the others, but as soon as they started to move toward them, the thugs took off running and the rangers followed suit. Once the chase ended, they had managed to catch three of the four that ran.

Carlos tackled one of the kids to the ground as he shouted angrily, "Is that your leader and friends down there? Did they get killed because they tried to double cross whoever hired you to kill my partner? Answer me!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" he shouted back. "We didn't do anything!"

"Take it easy, Carlos," Walker spoke as he handed over the man he apprehended over to Gage so that he could get Carlos back under control so they could continue their questioning. "If we're going to get any answers from them at all, we need to remain calm."

One of the others apprehended by Trivette replied, "Yeah, you should take his advice."

Trivette turned him around to face her as she responded, "And you should take ours. If you guys know anything about your friends' deaths or about our friend's attack, I suggest you tell us now, or you'll be brought in as accessories to attempted murder and that's only for starters."

"Look, we don't know anything about your friend's attack," the youngest gang member spoke calmly as she was being held by Sydney. "We know that Kip was contacted and hired to do a job, but he never told any of us. We're the lowest members in the gang because we're the newest. The chick that got away, might know more as she was Kip's girlfriend, though even if you find her, you won't get anything out of her. She's a real piece of work."

"Is there anything you can tell us?" Trivette asked. "Anything at all? Do you have any idea who killed Kip and the others, or why?"

The girl answered, "I don't know who did this, but we do know that Kip and the others with him were planning on meeting up with someone to demand more money in order to finish the job, whatever it was."

Carlos suddenly took off running toward his car, then sped off toward the hospital, fearing that his partner was once again in trouble and that if his mother and brother were still with him, that they were in danger too, despite the security sent in to keep them safe. Walker and Trivette took off after him, knowing why the former detective left in such a hurry, leaving Sydney and Gage behind to finish up at the crime scene.

Meanwhile…

A stranger to the medical profession, though dressed in scrubs and wearing a white coat, walked cautiously through the hospital's corridors, searching for the right room. However, as soon as he noticed the security officers from a safe distance, he stopped and observed them, as well as the doctors and nurses walking around him, not noticing that he didn't belong.

It was then that a young man walked out from the room where his target remained on life support, then watched as the kid put a dollar bill and change into a vending machine in order to get a soda. Within a few minutes, the kid wiped his fingers across his face as though he had been crying, and then slowly walked back inside. Having read up on his target, the stranger realized that this kid must be his younger brother, as well as an unfortunate victim should he get in his way.


	7. Chapter 7

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Chapter Seven

Tommy walked back into Trent's hospital room, then stopped, and stared down at his brother before taking a seat beside him again, where he had been sitting ever since he and his mother had been allowed to see him. Cathy had left earlier that afternoon to go home and get some sleep, due to Tommy's pleas for her to do so, as he could see how exhausted and worried she was.

He, however, refused to leave his brother alone. Trent's attack affected him most of all, as Trent was the one person who was there for him over everyone back when their father had died a few years before. It was killing Tommy, realizing that he could lose Trent too; his brother and protector.

The young man finally took his seat and was about to fall asleep again, when he suddenly sensed that he wasn't alone in the room, but as he hoped that it was Trent's presence he sensed, he quickly saw that he was wrong when he saw a man he didn't recognize as one of his brother's doctors, despite him being dressed in the right clothing. Tommy quickly became suspicious of the man as he stood over his brother with a new bag of fluids in his hands, even though he appeared to be legit.

"Can I help you?" Tommy asked, a little more crossly than how he meant to.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your sleep," the man replied stoically. "I was just asked to change out your brother's medicine bag."

Tommy spoke up again saying, "I didn't think that it was time yet. It wasn't all that long ago when one of the nurses did that. Who are you? You're not one of his usual doctors."

The man answered, "I'm just here doing my job. If you'd like, I can go have one of the other doctors come in to verify it for you."

"Yeah, I'd like that," Tommy responded firmly, when all of a sudden the man pulled out a gun from behind his back and turned it on Tommy.

"Sorry, kid," he said. "If your brother here just died when he should have, I wouldn't have to kill you now too."

Tommy raised his hands as he quickly looked down at his brother fearfully, then back at the assailant and replied angrily, "You were the one that did this to Trent, aren't you?"

The man answered, "Actually, no, but because they failed to kill him them, I'm here to finish the job. Goodbye, kid."

"I don't think so!" Carlos suddenly shouted as he ran into the room and tackled the imposter to the ground until he quickly fought back against the former detective.

Carlos fought against him, but eventually he was outmatched and as the man got back to his feet, he quickly ran and crashed through the large, glass window in order to escape when he saw Walker and Trivette run into the room as well. Carlos started to run after him, but when he realized he would never catch him, he stopped and turned to Tommy, who quickly ran over and wrapped his arms around him in a hug.

"Thank God you came when you did," Tommy cried quietly.

Carlos hugged the young man back as he responded less confidently, "Yeah, thank God. Are you all right?"

Tommy let go and looked between his friends as he replied, "He didn't hurt me, but if I hadn't have woken up when I did, he would have killed Trent. Who is he and why does he want Trent dead so badly?"

"I don't know, but something tells me that he isn't the one that wants your brother dead," Walker answered as he looked over the assailant's escape route. "He's working for somebody."

"How do you know?" Trivette asked.

Walker responded, "Just intuition. Did he say anything to you, Tommy, which might give us an idea about who's behind this?"

The young man sat down in the chair at his brother's bedside again, wearily rubbed his eyes, then took Trent's hand in his own, and replied, "No. All he said was that because the others failed to kill Trent before, he had to come and finish the job. He pretended to be a doctor so he could get close enough without arousing anyone's suspicion, but I didn't recognize him as one of the usual doctors. Thanks to Trent and hanging out with all of you, I've come to be more aware of danger."

"That's good," Trivette answered. "You saved your brother's life by stalling your attacker. Don't worry, we'll find him and we'll find the person behind all this too."

"Carlos, for now why don't you stay here to protect Trent and Tommy, in case someone should try again," Walker spoke again. "I promise once we find our killers, you'll be involved in their takedown."

Carlos nodded and then the rangers walked out of the room as Walker pulled out his phone to call Gage and when he answered, he asked, "Gage, have you found anything of worth at the crime that could give us a new lead?"

Gage responded, "_Nothing that can help us identify who our killer is, but Syd and I think that the scene has been staged._"

"What makes you think so?" the rangers' leader asked.

"_At first glance, it looks as though the gang got into a fight between each other, probably over the money, but it seems too neat,_" the younger ranger continued. "_It looks like their guns were carefully positioned in their hands after they were all killed. Besides, there is no gunshot residue on any of them._

Walker nodded and then stated, "Nice work. You and Sydney head back to the station and see if forensics can find any usable prints on those guns that don't belong to Kip or his gang. Maybe we'll get lucky. Right now, we could use some luck."

After Walker hung up, Carlos held up a pair of glasses, which must have fallen out of his assailant's pocket during their fight, as he spoke up saying, "Well, if they can't get anything on their end, maybe I've got something right here."

"The assassin wears glasses," Trivette replied. "We've finally just caught our first break."

"Let's hope it will give us something we can use," Carlos answered skeptically. "With the way our luck has been working so far, I have a feeling that we'll find only another dead end."

Walker responded, "Don't be such a cynic, Carlos. We always get our man, even if it takes us a little longer than we'd like. We'll catch these guys too, of that, I'm certain."


	8. Chapter 8

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Chapter Eight

"This guy's like the invisible man!" Carlos cried out in frustration after the test results from the glasses came back. "The fingerprints on the glasses don't match any that are in the system, the prescription of the lenses are under a fake name, and this guy knows how to avoid all surveillance cameras; in the hospital and in and out of the parking garage where the gang members were killed."

"It's like he doesn't exist and he's good at keeping it that way," Trivette added.

Walker continued, "Yes, but we've seen what he looks like now, or at least Tommy and Carlos have. It's only a matter of time before we find him. No one's perfect. Has Tommy talked with a sketch artist yet?"

Trivette answered, "Yeah and the picture has already been sent out. Surely someone else will recognize him too and get word to us. He won't remain a ghost for long."

"Guys, I just spoke to Kate down in forensics, who handed me a ballistics report on the bullet fragment pulled from Trent's chest," Sydney spoke quickly as she came rushing into the main room carrying a folder. "She had run the test the same day as the bullet casing, but somehow it had been misplaced until now. Anyway, Kate found something that will most likely change the way we're looking at this case."

"What are you talking about?" Gage asked his partner.

She responded, "Kate found letters carved deeply into the bullet after a more careful examination of the fragment. It wasn't easy, but she finally figured out that they spelled a name; Carlos."

Carlos stared at her, then asked, "Are you saying that that bullet was meant for me? That doesn't make any sense. Why would our killer tell the thugs I could be found at the dojo and if that was the thugs' mistake, then why would the killer bother with trying to finish off the job instead of coming after me this time?"

"I'm not positive, but it looks like our killer has chosen to kill Trent as a way of getting back at something you've done," Walker replied as he looked over at Carlos. "The bullet with your name is a message meant for you. Our guy's making you pay by trying to kill the one person who's most important to you and seeing as you don't have family…"

"Trent's like a brother to me," Carlos continued. "I've got to go. I've got to…"

Carlos walked out without finishing his thoughts, then Trivette spoke up saying, "This really does change things. You think he's going to be okay?"

Walker stared after Carlos as he answered calmly, "Only when we find the people responsible for all this and we find out for sure that Trent's going to be all right."

Four days passed and Trent had finally been taken off of the ventilator, as he no longer needed the extra help due to his vitals growing stronger every day. However, he still had yet to wake up and the longer he remained unconscious, the more worried everyone that cared about him became. Family and friends took turns staying with him, most of the time it still being his mom and brother, as well as Butch and Kim, while the security guards remained outside, not allowing anyone inside the room besides those that have been approved to visit him.

Carlos and the rangers, as well as Alex, visited as often as they could, though work made it difficult. Carlos wasn't a ranger and didn't have cop like hours anymore like he used to have, but he spent most of his time pouring over and over the little evidence they had for anything that might lead him to finding answers on who harmed his closest friend. At this point, the former detective knew the whole case like he knew the back of his hand, as finding the people who did this had by now become an obsession to him.

"I really wish you were helping me here, bro," Carlos continued speaking to his partner as though Trent could hear him. "I've always been better at this job with you working alongside me. I was a good cop, but I'm a lousy private detective. I don't know who did this. I don't even have a clue. This is my fault. Whoever did this to you, hurt you because of me."

"I told you a long time ago… if something… ever happened to one of us… the other one wasn't to feel... guilty," Trent spoke groggily, startling Carlos, who quickly sat up from his chair and leaned forward as soon as he noticed that Trent was conscious.

He responded in surprise, "Trent, you're awake!"

Trent smiled and after a few moments, fighting to speak he replied, "Did you… ever think that… I wouldn't make…it?"

"I wish I could tell you I knew you'd be just fine, but you really had me scared this time," Carlos answered grimly. "I mean, the bullet was only an inch away from your heart and you sustained burns from the fire those bastards left you to die in. I don't know how…"

"I fought my way out… didn't I?" Trent responded weakly. "Besides… some of the burns… are because… I tried to… put out the flames. The dojo?"

Knowing that his friend was asking if his home managed to survive, Carlos shook his head and replied softly, "I'm sorry. There isn't much left, but I promise, as soon as we end all this, we'll rebuild. In the meantime, we'll find somewhere else you can teach your students. And you can stay with me until you can find yourself some place new."

Trent nodded, then turned away, and said, "Thank you."

"We're going to find the people who did this, Trent," Carlos spoke again firmly. "I promise."

"Yeah, just don't kill your… yourself trying… to do it," Trent answered as he turned his head back to look at his partner. "You look terrible. I meant… meant what I said. No matter the reason… for me ending up here in… this bed, the only people… to blame… are the people who… who did this. I trust you'll figure… it all out."

Carlos smiled as he responded, "I'm glad you're back, buddy. I really missed you. Things are finally going to be back to normal as soon as you're on your feet again."

As he was slowly fell asleep again, Trent replied, "It's good to be back. Someone has to keep you in line."


	9. Chapter 9

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Chapter Nine

"So, we've been looking in all the wrong places, but now that I know it's me that our killers wants to punish, I've been looking back through all of our cases, as well as several of my cases from when I was a detective, for an idea as to who I may have offended more so than the others," Carlos spoke amongst Walker and the other rangers, days after pouring over his own case files now that he knew he was their killer's main focus. "The guys that stand out are either all dead or in prison."

"That doesn't mean that the leader behind all this couldn't have orchestrated the attacks from a prison cell," Trivette responded. "We know that whoever it is, is using our ghost to do his or her dirty work so that they can remain invisible."

Sydney spoke up as she replied, "And we still have no idea who he is either."

Walker asked, "Does anyone stand out, Carlos? Perhaps you killed someone close to whoever it is we're looking for, which is why Trent was targeted and not you."

"I've had to kill a number of people, but I'm not sure if there are any of them that are clever enough to do such a thorough background check on me to know that Trent and I go as far back as we do," Carlos answered as he tried to think hard. "I mean, our friendship is public knowledge, but for them to figure out that he's the closest… They had to have figured out that I don't have any family and that Trent is the only person who's always been here for me since we were kids, no matter how many times I've gotten myself into trouble. They did research on Trent too. They wanted to hurt him emotionally too before they tried to kill him."

"Doing so would only dig the knife into you even deeper, so to speak," Gage responded. "You're right. These guys aren't just some average thugs like the men they hired to try to kill Trent in the first place."

Walker spoke up again saying, "Whoever is responsible for all this, he or she has a real grudge against you to go through all this trouble. If no one stands out in your mind, then it must be that you didn't know the people in the life of the person you threatened or killed."

In frustration, Carlos replied, "Great, then all the research I've done over the last few days has probably been for nothing."

"Maybe so, but I wouldn't count anyone you might suspect just yet," Walker said. "I think we should go have a talk with a few of them; to find out what they've been up to lately. We might just lucky."

"I certainly hope you're right," Carlos answered as he and the rangers geared up. "For Trent's sake."

Meanwhile…

Defense attorney, Charlie Travers once again walked into the office building owned by his richest client, took a seat in the chair across from his client's desk, and then slammed his fist down in order to get the man's attention when he didn't turn around. The longer he dealt with the man, the more Charlie began to really hate him.

Charlie spoke first when his client still didn't turn around, saying, "I am getting really tired of you pretending that this mess you've made isn't a big deal. It's spinning out of control. Trent Malloy survived the second attempt against his life and your best assassin has now made himself known. It's only a matter of time before Sandoval and the rangers find him. I don't care how invisible he likes to think he is."

The chair finally turned around, but Charlie was shocked to find that it wasn't his client sitting there, but the man he had just finished insulting. Charlie quickly stood up and began to stutter, not quite making out any words, as the lanky lawyer, still wearing a cheap suit, became terrified that the assassin would kill him too.

The dangerous man said, "Relax, Charlie. If I was going to kill you, you'd already be on the ground. You're lucky I like you."

"What are you… doing here?" the lawyer asked nervously. "Don't you realize that you could lead the rangers and that detective right to us?"

"Former detective," the man responded calmly. "He hasn't been a detective for some time now. Not since he took down Driscoll's nephew."

Travers replied, "And as I recall, Jack died in prison because Carlos made him pay for killing his partner and the rest of those people he killed. Trent Malloy is Carlos' partner now and they've been friends since they were kids. Sandoval will go through hell to make everyone responsible for hurting Malloy pay and he's got help from Walker and Trivette. You coming here was a stupid thing to do, Jimmy. If they know who you are…"

Jimmy interrupted, "If they knew who I was, I would probably be dead by now. Sandoval may have seen my face, but I know how to cover my tracks. You're worrying yourself over nothing."

"It's time you stop messing around and get the hell out of town," Charlie stated.

"I'll leave when my job is done," the assassin answered coldly. "That means Trent Malloy has to die and Carlos has to learn that his brother's life was taken because of him. Orders are orders. Surely you understand that, don't you, Charlie?"

The lawyer nodded, then responded, "Yeah, I get it. Just quit messing around and get it done already. And don't ever come back here. I'm not willing to go to prison because of you."

Jimmy Cross stood up from the chair, held out his hand, and replied, "If you don't hand me my money our boss gave you, then you won't end up in prison, but dead. Is that what you want?"

"Just get out of here," Charlie answered as the lawyer handed him an envelope, then began to leave the office. "Finish this."

"It's as good as done," Jimmy said smugly as he lit a cigar and began to smoke, then once again took a seat and stared out the window.


	10. Chapter 10

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Chapter Ten

A man walked swiftly, but cautiously through the hospital corridors, in search of his latest target, after making a call in order to call away the doctors and nurses in that wing. This was the third attempt now on the man's life, by three different people; the previous hires having failed. Trent Malloy was a lucky SOB and the man that wanted him dead was getting impatient.

When he walked into Malloy's hospital room, his gun raised high, he turned to make the kill. However, he quickly discovered that the man in the bed wasn't the man he had been sent there to kill as he suddenly lunged at him and knocked him hard to the ground, leaving his knee tightly over his chest, hand roughly over his throat, and his own gun against his temple.

The man was angry, but quickly calmed down as he spoke up saying, "The third time is not the charm for you and whoever it is that's hired all of you to kill my friend. Who the hell are you working for?"

The assassin looked into the man's eyes and smiled as he replied smugly, "I wouldn't believe that just because you suspected I would come here like the guy before me, that your friend is safe now. I'm not the only man who has been sent to kill Malloy. You've failed to capture the other guy. He will find him and will kill him."

"You're wrong," his captor responded. "He's going to be fine and we are going to bring down your boss, just like I just brought down you."

"Good luck with that," the man stated just before he was suddenly struck hard and knocked unconscious with the butt of the gun.

The victor then pulled out his phone and when the other end of the line was picked up, he spoke saying, "You were right about our bad guy choosing to hire another assassin to try to finish the job right away. He or she is growing impatient. It was good that you thought to have Trent taken out of here, kid. How's he holding up?"

Carlos looked over into the passenger's seat of his car and looked at the man sitting beside him as he smiled, then answered, "_Trent's about as good as can be expected. He's holding his own. How about you, Butch? Are you all right?_"

"I'm fine," Butch replied as he stared down at the man that tried to kill their friend. "But he wasn't very talkative like you can imagine. He just gloated. Trent's by no means out of danger yet."

"_Yeah, I know_," the former detective responded. "_Thanks for taking his latest attacker down. We'll be in touch._"

Inside Carlos' car…

As Trent struggled to remain awake while he and Carlos drove to the safe house where he would hopefully remain protected until this case could finally be solved, he asked groggily, "How's Butch? Is he all right?"

Carlos looked back over at his friend again as he answered, "Someone else already showed up to try again, but yeah, Butch is fine. How about you, are you really doing okay?"

"I'm a little… soar," he replied. "I'm fine, I promise. I'm just glad to be out of the hospital."

"You should still be there," Carlos responded. "You just woke up two days ago after being shot in the chest, an inch away from your heart. I still don't like this, but at least I didn't forget your medication."

Trent shook his head, then closed his eyes as he struggled against the pain, until he finally opened them again, and answered, "No… until this is over, I need to stay off… off any drugs. I may not be able to fi… fight, but if I can be of any… help…"

Carlos interrupted, "I'm not going to risk you getting hurt anymore than you already have."

"While you continue… to risk your own life?" Trent asked angrily. "We're in this together, Carlos. I will take it easy, but I won't remain invalid while you, Walker, and the others remain out there… looking for whoever wants to hurt you."

"Whoever's behind this, just wants to wound me," Carlos replied softly. "And he or she knows that killing you will do that. I can't lose you, Trent. You've been my friend for too long and not having you in my life…"

When Carlos cut himself off, Trent continued, "Then please don't force me to take… drugs that will make it so that I can't try to defend myself when the time… comes; or you."

Carlos chuckled as he looked back over at Trent, then responded, "Okay. So far, we've failed to find anything that will help us figure out who's behind this. Our guy's good. What do you want to do?"

"Instead of letting… Butch be the bait, let's use me," Trent answered. "Let's give them what they want."

"We're going to need to put you somewhere you can easily be found," Carlos spoke again in a worried tone. "Hopefully, it will be our assassin who got away that comes for you. If he's the best, then he'll definitely try again and I've got the feeling that he knows more than all of the others. He knows our villain. Let's end this, once and for all."

Late that evening…

From across the street of the former detective's apartment building, Jimmy smoked while waiting patiently, keeping his eyes on the light shining through the window looking into the main room, as the hit man had discovered Carlos had brought Trent home to recover, rather than leave him there, where he was vulnerable.

Jimmy knew that his boss had hired another hit man after he had failed his first attempt, which was rare, as Jimmy was known to be one of the best. He just underestimated Carlos and the Texas rangers, a mistake which he didn't plan to make again. He was grateful the other hit men failed. Jimmy wasn't one to accept failure and swore to himself that he would finish the job he started, even if he had to kill Carlos and anyone else that got in his way, despite his orders to leave the former detective alone.

Finally, the light inside the apartment suddenly went out and a few minutes later, Carlos walked out onto the street, looked around, then got into his car, and drove away. Jimmy had seen both Trent and Carlos through the window earlier when he had first arrived, but no one else, so knowing that Malloy was now alone, Jimmy casually walked inside the building, heading up the two flights of stairs leading up to the apartment. Once he was outside the door, he quickly picked its lock while scanning the hallway, making sure there was no one around, then pulled out his gun tucked inside the back of his pants, turned the doorknob, and opened the door quietly so as to avoid detection from his target inside.

The small apartment was quiet as it was dark and Jimmy walked through it toward the bedroom as if he were nothing but a shadow floating from wall to wall. Upon seeing the form lying in the bed, the hit man raised his gun with a silencer attached at the end of its barrel, and began to fire several rounds at his target. When he finished, Jimmy slowly moved closer to the bed in order to confirm his job was done, but before he could, something sharp suddenly struck the back of his shoulder, causing him to grunt in pain, then quickly turned around as soon as the light came on, and stared in surprise at the man Jimmy thought he had just killed.

Trent stood before his assailant with another of the weapons he had just thrown in his hand, which Jimmy could now see clearly, causing Jimmy to smile as he asked questioningly, "A throwing star; really?"

Despite the pain slowly rising in his chest, Trent struggled to remain standing as he replied, "They're called… shurikens and I've got… more than one."

"You're a braver man than I thought and you're a hell of a fighter, but you're barely holding it together," Jimmy responded smugly as he roughly pulled out the star embedded into his shoulder. "Even if you had the strength to try again, do you really think that you can take me out using those things when I've got a gun?"

"That's why he's not alone," Carlos answered as he swiftly appeared at Trent's side, his own gun in hand, pointing directly at the threat before them. "You fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book. To be honest, you're not as smart as I originally gave you credit for. Now, drop your weapon or I will fire."

The hit man replied, "You and I both have guns and we're both aiming them at our targets. If we fire at the same time, do you really think you'll be able to protect your friend? I may get killed, but so will he. I suggest you lower your gun, Sandoval."

Carlos glared angrily back at the man as he slowly began to do as he said when all of a sudden, another shot was fired from outside and into the room through the open window, hitting the killer's arm that held his weapon, causing him to cry out again and drop the gun to the ground. Carlos started to run toward him to attack, until Jimmy quickly made a run for it out the window himself, knowing that the rangers weren't aiming to kill him, then began to climb down the fire escape, narrowly missing several more shots being fired at him from the top of the building across the street.

The former detective started after him, until he stopped to look back at his friend as he asked, "Are you all right?"

"I think so," Trent responded when he suddenly began to collapse until Carlos rushed over to him and pulled him into his arms as they sank to the floor. "I'm just… really tired. You should g… go. They could use… your he… hel..."

"They can handle it," Carlos answered as he continued to hold his friend, who was now fading fast and not just into unconsciousness.

Knowing that Trent was in trouble, Carlos swiftly pulled out his phone, his hands shaking as he struggled to hold him while he dialed the number for an ambulance, then as he waited for them to pick up, Carlos spoke to Trent saying, "Hang on, buddy. You're going to be all right. You're going to be all right."

Meanwhile…

When Jimmy finally made it down to the ground and jumped off from the final ladder, managing not to be hit by whoever was shooting at him moments ago, he grabbed a hold of his wounded arm, then started to run, but suddenly stopped short as rangers Walker, Trivette, and Gage all stood in front of him to keep him from getting away.

Gage looked up toward the building that the shots were fired from, where he could now see his partner climbing down its fire escape as well, then looked back at their killer, and said, "You're a lucky man. Syd's a good shot and you're still standing."

"If you're looking for a fight too, rangers, I'll be happy to oblige," Jimmy replied coldly. "I may not have been able to attack your friend this time as I planned, but he didn't look very good when I left that room. Odds are still in my favor. He's as good as dead."

"He isn't going to die," Walker responded with more confidence than with what he truly felt. "You'll have to live with your disappointment from behind bars. You're under arrest for the attempted murder of Trent Malloy and for the murders of a number of gang members you killed in order to keep your identity a secret."

Sydney joined her friends as Jimmy smiled, then turned to look directly at Walker as he spoke up again asking, "What do you say that you and I fight until either one of us are either unconscious, or dead?"

Walker glared at him coldly as he stepped forward, then answered, "If that's what you want. Let's fight."

"Sounds like an ambulance is coming, Walker," Trivette said as he, Gage, and Sydney turned their heads to the sound of sirens off in a distance, while Walker and Jimmy continued to stare each down.

"You three go and check on Trent and Carlos," Walker replied. "I'll be fine."

They did as their friend told them to do and as soon as they arrived inside the former detective's apartment, they found Trent unconscious within Carlos' arms, while he pointed a gun straight at them so as to defend himself and Trent from their attacker, then the rangers rushed over to them once he lowered the weapon.

Sydney quickly asked, "Was he hit?"

Carlos shook his head and responded, "No… no, but he needs help. He's worse off than he admitted."

"The ambulance is coming," Trivette answered as he reached down to feel Trent's neck for a pulse. "His pulse is weak, but it's still there. He's going to be all right. I'm sure of it."

"The hit man?" Carlos asked.

Trivette stood and walked over to the window in order to check on his partner, who was currently in a hand to hand fight against the killer, while Gage replied, "Walker's taking care of him right now. We'll find out who's behind all of this in no time."

By the time Trent was wheeled out of the apartment building on a gurney, Walker walked over to rejoin his friends as they all observed the paramedics, who worked to keep Trent alive. The leader just nodded his head as his partner looked over at him to make sure he was okay too, then the rangers and Carlos remained standing there in silence until the ambulance pulled away, heading back to the hospital.

Walker spoke quietly saying, "Our hit man is down for the count. He won't be hurting anyone ever again."

Four hours later…

"How are you holding up, Carlos?" Walker asked the former detective as he walked over to stand beside him because he noticed him standing away from the others, including Alex, Butch, C.D., and Kim, while they waited inside the hospital's waiting room for the doctors yet again.

"How do you think I'm holding up?" Carlos responded curtly. "I never should have allowed Trent to convince me to take him out of here and use him as bait. He's worse than he let on and I should have known it."

Walker nodded, then answered, "No one's to blame except for the people that are trying to kill him. Trent would be the first to tell you not to blame yourself."

Carlos shrugged, then finally turned to his friend as he asked, "And our hit man?"

"He's still alive and currently on his way to prison, where he'll be until he's executed for all of his crimes," Walker replied confidently. "After I finally knocked him out, I looked through his wallet. He had multiple ids on him, so we still don't know his name, but I also pulled out his cell phone and dialed the last number he called. It belonged to defense attorney, Charlie Travers."

"William Driscoll's attorney?" Carlos asked in surprise as all their answers slowly began to come together in his mind.

Walker put it together out loud as he continued, "Jack Lesofsky's one and only uncle. It seems that after you finally took Jack down for all his victims, William's brother, Jack's father, killed himself out of shame over all his son had done. Word is that William and his brother were real close, so I'm guessing that when his brother died, he turned his anger against the one man he blamed for destroying his family; you. Jack was a serial killer and once he was killed in prison, William's life began to become unraveled. The police are on their way to pick William up as we speak."

Carlos responded, "I destroy Driscoll's family, so he devotes everything into destroying mine."

"Trent's come this far," Walker answered quietly. "He'll pull through this."

A week and a half later…

"Thank you, Carlos," Trent spoke to break the awkward silence that had fallen over them as he looked over at his childhood friend while his partner once again sat in the chair at his bedside, after the two had talked about everything involving the case. "I knew you could do it. As well as for saving my life, again."

The former detective smiled as he replied, "You would have done the same for me."

Trent reached up to grasp his partner's hand, then responded sincerely, "Always. I'll always have your back, just as you've always had mine."

"Well, well, well; look who's finally awake enough to enjoy some company," Walker said playfully as he, Alex, Trivette, and the rest of their friends walked into the room carrying balloons, flowers, and other gifts.

"How are you feeling?" Alex asked as she bent down to kiss his cheek.

Trent smiled and answered, "A lot better now, thank you; all of you."

Butch spoke up saying, "Yeah, well you had us all worried for days. You better not ever scare us like that again, kid."

"The important thing is that he woke up and is going to be all right, just as each of you tried to assure me," Carlos replied. "Within a few weeks, we'll be back to bringing down scum who are cheating on their wives, or who are laundering money."

"Sounds great," Trent responded gratefully as the rest of his friends took turns either shaking his hand or giving him a kiss. "It's good to be back."

The End


	11. Thank You

Thank you to all of those who have written reviews for my stories! They are much appreciated. I am honored to have you all for fans and I hope to hear from you all again in the future, should you choose to read and enjoy more of my work. Best of wishes to you all!

Sincerely,

Genevieve Kelly


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